During this period, public health genetics centered on integrating expanding genome resources with population-based study designs, moving beyond classic linkage to early genome-wide mapping approaches. Researchers emphasized polygenic architectures of complex diseases and leveraged case–control and family-based designs to map genetic contributions across the genome, accelerating methodological development and informing public health genetics strategy. Attention to ethical, legal, and social implications, including privacy and discrimination concerns, grew as genetics moved closer to clinical and population health contexts.